Automatic firearm



'ug- 20, 1929. K. HEINEMANN AUTOMATIC FIRERM Filed Nov. 15. 1928 \1 7n ,M l w c ZA Z B o ,y e y l b a !...l L 4I o l d V l nf zu. A F c L .Z l c frau nvln. 5 u n- /Zuc x- C 4 +1 a Patented Aug. 2o, 1929.

U EE STTES KARL HEINEMANN, or DUSSELDORF, onnmengnssrenon rro RHEINISGHE METALL- WAAREN- UND MASCHINENFABRIK, or DUSSELDORF-DERENDORF, GERMANY.

AUTOMATC FIREARM.

Application filed November 15, 1928, Serial No. 319,539, and in Germany October 11, 1927.

To prevent premature opening of the breech of automatic lire arms having a toggle-joint breech, it has already been proposed to lock the toggle-j oint in the stretched position by a special locking device. In this arrangement a spring-loaded inertia slide, provided in the casing of the arm, bears against the joint of the stretched toggle levers which slide, on account of its inertia moment, releases the joint on the recoil of the arm, so that the breech may open. Such a loclnng device requires, however, that the arm is arranged resiliently in the direction of the recoil, so that at the Bring the inertia slide moves with regard to the toggle-joint. Automatic fire arms constructed in this manner are therefore not suitable for a. fixed mounting` in the ordinary frames and carriages.

The object of the present invention is to obviate this draw-back for which purpose the lock for the toggle-joint is, on firing, released by a control device actuated directly by the force of the driving gases. The arm may then be rigidly mounted in a frame without preventing thereby the automatic release of the toggle-joint at the proper time. Moreover, according to the invention the undesired vibrations of the toggle-joint which are due to the suddenV stop on arriving in the stretched position and which may hinder the automatic engagement of the lock are absorbed or perfectly removed by blows exerted upon a portion of the toggle-joint by a beating device swinging under the influence of the inertia or under the load of a spring. The additional blow acting upon the togglejoint after the latter has arrived its stretched position absorbs the vibrations of the togglejoint, so that the locking of the breech before the next liring is assured by the locking device which simultaneously comes in engagement.

In the accompanying drawing a fire arm having a fixed barrel is shown by way of example. Fig. l is a broken away side elevation; Fig. 2 shows a plan and Fig. 3 a cross-section on the line A-B--C of Fig. 2.

The two-part toggle-joint c, c, is, in a well known manner, laterally shiftably journalled upon a pivot w1 in the casing a of the arm. The front part c, of the toggle-joint is, by the bolt b1, pivotally connected to the breech which is slidably arranged in the longitudinal axis of the arm. A spring, not

shown in the drawing, presses upon a projection of the hind part e of the toggle-joint and tends to stretch the latter and to close the breech. In the closed position of the breech the toggleejoint c, c1 is bent inwardly alittle beyond its stretched dead centre position and al projection b, of its middle joint bears, under vthe pressure of the closing spring, against a stop surface of the casing m.

Upon the casing of the arm and gripping over thisv a locking pawl e is journalled which is actuated by a spring d andv engages behind a projection c2 of the toggle-joint part c when the breech is closed. By this means the stretched toggle-joint is prevented from bending outwardly. Upon a pivot o, of the toggle-joint part c a pawl lever f is swingable in a vertical plane the front end f1 of which extends below the projection c, of the locking pawl e. The lower camlike edge f, of the lever f lies in the path of the laterally bent end of a longitudinally movable rod g. This rod g is, in known manner, connected to a gas catching sleeve, not shown in the drawing, which is arranged in front of the barrel mouth.

On firing, the rod g is shifted forwardly by the gas catching sleeve. The bent end g,L of the rod g' then slides along the cam-like face f, of the pawl lever f and lifts this lever f so far, that by the latter the locking pawl c is swung until the projection c, of the toggle-joint is released. 'During the continued forward movement the end g, of the rod g runs against the roller c4 and thereby the middle joint Z) of the toggle-joint is, in a well known manner, bent outwardly beyond the dead centre position, whereupon the further opening of the breech is effected by the recoil of the driving gases. As soon as the action of the driving gases upon the gas catching sleeve ceases, the rod g` returns, under the action of a spring, to its position of rest and the locking pawl e drops into the locking position.

At the flattened front end of the bolt c3 of the toggle-joint lever c a beating lever h is mounted swingably in the path of the toggle-joint lever c upon a pivot c5. A spring i resiliently holds the front end of the beating lever it in a certain distance from a handle c6 carried by the toggle-joint lever 0. If on closing of the breech the toggle-joint c, c, is, after passing beyond the stretched dead centre position, suddenly stopped by c6 underneath the pawl.

meeting with the stop surface of the casing, the beating lever h swings on account of its inertia and exerts one or several powerful blows upon the handle c6 of the toggle-joint. These blows or impulses absorb the arising vibrations of the toggle-joint, prevent backswinging of this joint beyond the dead centre position and assure the proper and due engagement of the temporarily disengaged locking pawl e behind the nose c2 of the toggle-joint.

To open the breech by hand, the locking pawl e may be disengaged by pushing a finger of the hand gripping over the Vhandle According to another construction, not shown in the drawing, means may be provided for automatically disengaging lthe pawl e by exerting a pull on -the handle 06. For this purpose the handle of, may, for instance7 be resiliently and swing ably connected tothe toggle-joint lever o and may' carry a lifting cam which when the handle 06 is pulled back disengages the pawl e.

What I claim is:

l. In an automatic fire arm, a togglefjoint breech, a locking device for. locking said togglejoint in its stretched position, a control device actuated by the driving gases for automatically disengaging the said locking device on tiring and a swinging beating member bearing against the -said toggle-Joint in its stretched position and absorbing or removing, by inertiaor by the load of a spring, vibrations of said toggle-joint. K

2. In an automatic iir'e arm, a toggle-joint breech and a swinging beating member bear-l ing against Athe said toggle-pint in its stretched 'position and absorbing or removing,y by inertia or by the load of a spring, vibrations of said toggle-joint.

In testimony whereof I have aiixed my signature. n

' KARL HEINEMANN. 

